Well, that was quite the offensive explosion from the Nationals yesterday, wasn't it? A lineup that averaged 3.6 runs per game during the first two legs of this road trip ran roughshod over the Astros to the tune of 14 runs on 14 hits.

No sense tinkering with perfection, so Jim Riggleman is sticking with his reconfigured lineup tonight. Cristian Guzman (3-for-6, three runs) again bats leadoff with Nyjer Morgan (3-for-4, walk, four runs) staying in the 2-hole.

Craig Stammen, who put together a solid start his last time out in San Francisco, is on the mound for the Nats. Former Phillie Brett Myers (career 10-9 with a 4.18 ERA in 33 appearances against the Nationals franchise) starts for the Astros.

I didn't make the trip to Houston with the club, so there will be no in-game updates. As always, please feel free to converse with each other throughout…

NO NO NO Mr. N.Cognito,I think that as the team plane left San Diego, there was a huge sigh of relief. The toughest part of the schedule is over and they were only one under .500. Quickly followed by a lets go take out a few frustrating years, on some lesser talent. I am excited about this month and the opportunity the guys have to get on a roll. It is the perfect month for everyone on this team to pad their stats and get some wins, one night at a time.

Still would like to see what would happen if they bat Willingham second, Dunn third, Zimmerman 4th, Guzman 5th, Pudge or Bernadina, Desmond with Morgan leading off. That looks to be the most effective lineup.

So far the DC boys are 2-4 for Tuesday games. When we win tonight, Strasburg can even that record up next Tuesday (if everything goes as planned schedule wise).@ Cwj: I also like putting Morgan in the best position for an early sac bunt with a chance to beat out the throw. But we have tried batting Guze leadoff in the past and came to the conclusion that that is not the best fit for him.

That should do it for Stammen. I'm surprised they let him finish the fifth, after delivering another homerun ball then having 2 singles against him with 2 outs. Luckily he (and the coach) perservered to get Myers to groundout to end it.

With bases loaded and 1 out in the top of the 8th, the only way they can score is get hit by a pitch?Thats frustrating to watch. I hope Maldanado is a defensive upgrade over Nieves, otheriwse why bring him in? Did Nieves suffer an injury?

Last chance for the 'meat' of the order to turn this game around.Also, to expound on another thought I had earlier.The Nats records on each day of the week.Day/Record/Runs Allowed/# of games/ Runs per GameM) 3-4 36 7 = 5.14/ gameTu) 2-4 29 6= 4.83/gameW) 5-3 45 8= 5.63/gameTh) 4-3 35 7= 5.0/gameF) 4-3 25 8= 3.5/gameSa) 4-5 38 9= 4.22/gameSu) 4-4 32 8= 4.0/game

The batting average against Capps on balls in play (BABIP) is very high. And he's still throwing good pitches, so I'm not too concerned about him. It's kinda strange though, a lot of closers are going through slumps right now.Still, this loss is a tough one.

Anon 5:43 AM: Let's not be too hard on Capps. On balance he's been pretty good. But Bill Hohn is another story. Not only did he blow it the previoius night in ejecting Oswalt but he completely missed Berkman's third strike, which the replay clearly showed that his bat crossed the plate. He needs either a second very firm phone call from the commissioner's office or to be sent down to single A.

Not sure if that was the right pitch to throw, but it wasn't a bad location. Berkman is a big strong guy, he was trying to atone for his throwing error and he got lucky. Not to upset with losing this game, could be worse the Nats could be the Astros.

Did anyone notice that, on the double by Bourn in the 9th, Morgan once again mis-judged the trajectory of a ball most major league outfielders should catch? He's got the speed to get to the ball, but speed doesn't help if he loses his perspective when he gets close to the wall.

You have a sort-of point there, Big Fish, in that Morgan has always had trouble *catching* the ball, relative to his outstanding range. (I assume this is what you're going for. I mean, "most major league outfielders" would have watched it plunk off the wall.)((For what it's worth, those other outfielders also wouldn't have made the baserunner wait to tag up at second, thinking the ball might be caught, and … ah, getting too complicated now.))

Arlington – That was the PH Sullivan who had the double in the 9th, and while Morgan was back at the wall, it would have been a tough catch. I will give him a pass on that one.Guzman made a heck of a play on that slapper to him at 2nd to cut off the guy at the plate.All in all, any way you disect it, you can't start Capps off with an error on the #7 hitter to open the inning with a 1 run lead. You also can't give up 5 runs in 5 innings to the worst hitting team in the MLB. 15 hits to these guys + 6 walks is a JOKE. Stammen should just pack his bags voluntarily and make it easy on Riggleman. On the plus side, the batters kept battling. The offense kept the Nats in the game.In hindsight, Riggles should have pinch run for Adam Dunn and he would have scored on Bernadina's single. Other than that, the offense did its job.

Umpires: HP: Gary Darling. 3B: Bill Hohn.These guys missed the most critical play in the game on the 2-2 count to Berkman in the 9th with 2 outs.I saw it replayed on ESPN. The ball was outside but Berkman definitely swung.

Oh, and here's the other thing about Sullivan's (thanks Steve) double: I liked the way Morgan and Willingham worked together. Morgan could take the chance and go for the catch, because Willingham was right there to play the carom.Same thing happened several innings earlier, where I thought Willingham wanted to play a carom, but because Morgan was there to back up, he actually tried for the catch. (Looked damn ugly doing it, too.)

Anonymous said… "The Nats shouldn't have even been in that game after that horrible pitching performance by Stammen.The offense kept them in the game."I think you meant the Atros's horrible pitching and defense kept them in the game.

Scooter, Good one. The Nats had a decent .363 OBP for the game so that is good offense.Yes, the Nats were helped by 2 errors but still made their own breaks. If it is Adam Dunn running instead of Nyjer Morgan, does their shortstop approach the ball so aggresively and make that error?Ryan Zimmerman got 4 walks, but he worked every count frustrating each pitcher. Dunn worked 2 walks.Morgan was still 2 for 5, Nieves 2 for 3, Desmond 2 for 5, and Bernadina got a clutch hit so I would say the offense came through.Yes, Willingham stuggled but still contributed with a Sac Fly.The one horrific part of offense was the 2 ugly at-bats Craig Stammen had. Simply unexplainable and this isn't the first time he couldn't help himself in a game bunting. He actually is a good hitter so either let him hit away or teach him to bunt.

This hasnt been brought up on the negative side which was the pinch hitting. Not counting Willie Harris HBP, the at-bat by Morse was ugly with a strikeout and Kennedy struck out also.Morse showed his worth last year coming off the bench as a pinch hitter and this year doesnt seem to have the same approach.

Morse showed his worth last year coming off the bench as a pinch hitter and this year doesnt seem to have the same approach.At least he's not hitting .180 like Harris or .188 like JMax. Both of these guys have undeservingly received more starts and reps at the plate than Morse now haven't they?And as I recall last night's game I seem to remember the man who never walks swinging strike 3 with the bases loaded. Riggleman will surely forgive that even though the previous hitter, Harris, was able to work a walk with bases loaded. Guzman is the one WHO REALLY looked terrible.

Cognito – Subtract out those 2 bad pinch hit strikeouts and the 2nd bunt (non-bunt) strikeout of Stammen and the Nats were essentially 3 for 9 with runners in scoring position.I am trying to look at the glass 1/2 full. Houston is in last place for a reason. Their starting pitching was good. Their team offensive statistics are horrible. Stammen made them look like an offensive dynamo.A .363 team OBP is a typical Yankees night but eclipses any other team's average so I think it was a good offensive performance. You almost have to look at who is in 30th place in team OBP—–yes, the Houston Astros at a MLB bottom of .286

Steve, I just wanted to echo your Stammen frustration. I was grumbling last night that someone who apparently hits pretty well is so god-awful at bunting. (I didn't even want him to bunt that one time, which makes me grumble even more — you know, because of the smugness.)

It's interesting analyzing the Nats game like a Redskins football game.The tough part is that National League players play both offense and defense.The game was just plain ugly all around with the walks, errors, strikeouts and missed pitching locations.Just like the refs in football, I hate when an Ump misses a call.